How many students have been told by a maths teacher they are too dense to pass maths? I wager a guess that many adults still nurse huge grudges against their primary or high school maths teachers.
Grace Ogwo is still basking in the euphoria of bagging a PhD in Mathematics at 27 but the real joy is that a few years back, nobody thought it was possible.
The reason is —Grace made a D7 in her West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). And although she made a C6 in NECO many in her inner circle didn’t think maths was her thing.
But, the young lady actually made a First Class in Mathematics in her first degree at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) and She was also the best-graduating student in her department at the time.
Ms Grace Ogwo was also awarded a PhD in Mathematics by the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, after 20 publications. On her Facebook page, she wrote:
“PhD at 27!!!!!
Waec (mathematics) D7 ( Methodist High School)
Neco (Mathematics) C6 (Methodist High School)
BSc (Mathematics) first class honours (MOUAU) best-graduating student mathematics department
MSc (Mathematical sciences ) 72% ( university of cape town, south Africa)
MSc (mathematics ) 81% summa cum laude (University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa)
PhD Mathematics (20 publications)
God you really overdid yourself. Thank you, Jesus”
Expounding on how maths teachers discourage potential bright students, Richard Andrew on his LinkedIn page —Empowering Education Leaders, raised this poser: “Could This Teacher’s Attitude Be Wide-spread And Be Part Of The Reason Why So Many Kids Dislike Maths?” The response proved to be intriguing but first, hear him.
“I don’t know what percentage of students dislike mathematics, but every time I ask high school maths teachers this question, most suggest the number is north of 70%…
“A while back, I read the following response to an article that Lachlan Gilbert (UNSW) posted, referencing the work of Dr Laura Tuohilampi.
“I found the article to be insightful, despite being, dare I say, somewhat tame. In a nutshell – and in my words – Dr Tuohilampi is suggesting we should use maths activities that foster thinking … and that once per month is sufficient. A short excerpt from the article is below.
… supplementing the traditional syllabus with stimulating problems can renew kids’ interest. “Teachers struggle with their students being unmotivated and disengaged. But when you give them these kinds of challenges every once in a while, you allow them permission to start appreciating maths and they appreciate the conventional tasks more.”
“From my research, we were able to show that a good balance is to give just one lesson per month for these kinds of rich maths problems,“ Dr Tuohilampi says.
“The article gives some excellent examples of ‘stimulating problems can renew kids’ interest’. Here’s the link.
“However”, Richard continued, “my interest lies in one of the responses the article received in an online maths group. For obvious reasons, I’ll keep the author anonymous. And no, I didn’t make this up! Below is the entire comment. Hang onto your hats, it’s a wild ride …
Honestly, this article looks good. But I am sick to death of hearing how we have to change maths to get people “into it”. Over the past 40 years, we have gone out of our way to ‘change maths teaching’ to ‘equal’ how other courses/subjects are taught. We had more successful learning in mathematics before we tried this crap. How many people do straight mathematics degrees now (as I did and my sister did & others of my age …). How many jobs include a degree in mathematics as something to be employed with? When I left school, it was an excellent prerequisite for many jobs. This is all about people not understanding three things 1. stop looking at ‘how children learn’ and look at how a subject needs to be learnt /taught and 2. people like me learnt maths successfully, stop looking at how to teach maths from the perspective of people who couldn’t learn it and look at it from the perspective of those who were/are successful and 3. respect teachers and their knowledge and experience (and remember that those that come from a mathematics background – not retrainee ‘yes’ people) know what mathematics is about and became teachers because they had such a love of mathematics that they want to pass this knowledge on to others. I’m not an artist … can you change the way that art is taught to ensure that I don’t miss out …? No art is a talent, what the h&*% is wrong with saying the mathematics is also a talent that not everybody will be able to reach the highest level of?
“The above reply triggered quite a discussion in the group, mostly opposed to the expressed view. Below was one such reply …
The aim is to get EVERYONE to learn maths to a level helpful for life and for everyone to find it enjoyable … not just those who have a talent and who want to follow it into uni. We aren’t teaching the base level maths well. After all, I’m no artist. In fact, I have no talent for art but knowing some base knowledge makes it an enjoyable thing for me to do.
An excellent reply, I thought.
The question I ask, however, is how widespread is the elitist view? I have no proof or real idea, but I suspect the elitist view, as expressed by the long rant above, is more common than we think. And rarely expressed openly. It’s possible that many educators hold such a view without knowing it. So thanks, anonymous person, for bringing the elitist view out into the open!
Allow me to highlight the three main points from the elitist tirade:
1. Stop looking at ‘how children learn’ and look at how a subject needs to be learnt/taught.
Hmmm, that one is so flawed It’s not worth unpacking!
2. People like me learnt maths successfully, stop looking at how to teach maths from the perspective of people who couldn’t learn it and look at it from the perspective of those who were/are successful.
Hang on … isn’t this the root of the whole issue (of 70% of students feeling alienated by maths) … that their needs aren’t being met?
3. Respect teachers and their knowledge and experience, (who) know what mathematics is about and became teachers because they had such a love of mathematics that they want to pass this knowledge on to others.
No! I won’t try to unpack these any further. Shining a light on these elitist gems is, I feel, sufficient. “
